Good morning. Long-running tensions between Australia and Timor-Leste are threatening to escalate after José Ramos-Horta said his country could turn to China to secure a new gas pipeline. The Bali bomber Umar Patek has been recommended for early release from prison. And Ukraine claims Russia is planning a “provocation” at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant today.
Timor-Leste’s president has warned that his nation will seek Chinese support if Australia and Woodside Energy fail to back a gas pipeline between the resource-rich Timor Sea and his country’s southern shore, rather than Darwin. José Ramos-Horta said despite being Australia’s neighbour and ally, his country would “absolutely” look to Chinese investment to secure what he says is the “national strategic goal” of piping gas from the Greater Sunrise fields to his nation’s coast. The oil and gasfields, worth an estimated $71bn, are critical to Timor-Leste’s future.
Failing to bulk bill pensioners who require life-saving Covid-19 antivirals is “morally bankrupt” and “unethical”, the head of the national peak body for older Australians has said. While those aged 70 and older do not have to pay for the drugs, they may have to pay for the appointment. The Council on the Ageing chief executive, Ian Yates, said no pensioner should need to beg to be bulk billed for a life-saving treatment. If GPs charge patients for an appointment to access antivirals “I think that is appalling and unethical”, he said.
Umar Patek, who helped assemble the bombs that killed 202 people in Kuta in 2002, could be out of prison within days after the Indonesian ministry proposed his early release. A senior law ministry official said he had gained remissions reducing his 20-year jail term through a “full pledge” of obedience to Indonesia.
Australia
The bodies of two Saudi asylum seekers – found dead in their apartment in Sydney’s west in June – have been repatriated to Saudi Arabia, the country they fled seeking protection in Australia.
Sydney’s mayor has called for the end of shark nets at Bondi beach, saying they aren’t effective and catch too many non-target marine animals – with better options available
The scandal over Scott Morrison’s secret ministries lays bare his penchant for secrecy and centralising power. Guardian Australia has compiled four other examples that trace the warning signs that preceded this week’s extraordinary revelations.
Australia may be about to experience a rare third La Niña this spring but the outlook is sunnier – literally – for parts of Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania. Here’s where to holiday to escape the worst of the weather.
An Australian bank will stop offering loans for new fossil fuel cars from 2025 in a step it says will encourage more people to buy electric vehicles.
The world
Ukraine’s military intelligence has warned that Russian forces are preparing to stage a “provocation” at a nuclear power plant they control. The claim came as the UN secretary general, António Guterres, called for an urgent withdrawal of military forces and equipment from the site, amid fears that fighting could lead to a deadly disaster.
The chief financial officer of Donald Trump’s company and one of his most trusted executives, pleaded guilty to tax violations on Thursday, further complicating the former president’s legal woes. Allen Weisselberg, 75, has worked for the Trump family for five decades.
The man accused of stabbing the novelist Salman Rushdie last week in western New York has pleaded not guilty to second-degree attempted murder and assault charges at an arraignment hearing and was ordered to be held without bail.
Violent thunderstorms with winds of up to 224km/h have struck the Mediterranean island of Corsica and parts of Italy, killing seven people and leaving at least a dozen more injured.
Genetically modified soya beans designed to absorb light more efficiently produced a 25% greater yield in an advance that could significantly boost global food supplies.
Recommended reads
How can there be real change in society when people don’t listen to each other or have an empathetic approach to other positions? That’s the question posed in Brigid Delaney’s weekly column as she implores everyone to “dial down the heated dinner party rhetoric”. She adds: “You don’t need to have an opinion on everything.”
It may not reach the peaks of his debut, Ironback, but Jay Carmichael’s new book Marlo breathes life into a forgotten history, writes Jack Callil. The 1950s-set story of two men – one white, one Indigenous – is a “poetic gay love story set in Melbourne’s punitive past”.
Listen/Watch
During his prime ministership, Scott Morrison secretly took on the health, finance, treasury, home affairs and resources portfolios. Facing the public in a press conference on Wednesday, Morrison insisted he did nothing wrong: it was an extraordinary time, which required extraordinary measures. In today’s Full Story, Gabrielle Jackson talks to Lenore Taylor and Mike Ticher about why Morrison’s reasoning doesn’t stack up, and how we prevent such a break with Westminster conventions from happening again.
Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.
Sport
This year’s NRL grand final will be played in NSW after the Australian Rugby League Commission confirmed October’s showpiece event will be held at Sydney’s Accor Stadium, but the long-term location of the match remains uncertain.
Media roundup
Labor is to wipe the slate on Scott Morrison’s cyber strategy, meaning the $1.7bn 10-year plan will be torn up under an overhaul to fight rising threats from state-based actors and criminal gangs, the Australian reports. And, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, doctors will be able to book transport for patients to clinics and hospitals via a new Uber service launched across Australia this week as the multinational ride-share company moves into the healthcare space.
Coming up
Anthony Albanese continues his trip to NT and will meet Indigenous leaders for feedback on a voice to parliament.
Government and motoring industry figures will meet at the national EV summit to discuss the future of electric vehicles in Australia.
And if you’ve read this far …
Find out why one couple drew a 600-mile wide GPS bicycle across Europe. While accompanied by their dog.
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